Remember that intelligence and education can be powerful traps on the spiritual path. Intellect is a wonderful servant, but don't let it become your master. The spiritual path is a return to the heart and to intuitive wisdom.
S. Yu. Klyuchnikov
Man is an expression of life, radiating light and love in all the dimensions in which he finds himself, in whatever form he is there. Humanity is not a physical characteristic; it is a spiritual goal. This is not what is given to us, but what we must achieve.
Richard Bach
“In every society there is a certain average level of development of consciousness, around which cultural ethics, norms, rules and basic institutions are organized. This middle level ensures the unity of the cultural and the social within the framework of a given society … The cultural middle level acts as a restraining and stabilizing factor of development. If the personality in its development is below the average level, he pulls it up. If a person tries to rise to a higher level, the average level of culture works as a deterrent. Therefore, people who have gone beyond the middle level of consciousness … more often than not have not only extraordinary thinking and abilities, but also courage, will, perseverance, helping to defend their advanced views, innovative ideas, worldview positions. (Ken Wilber)
There are a lot of people who have embarked on the spiritual path of development today, this is evidenced by the increased interest in literature of this kind, many sites on the Internet have been created, forums, etc. So my article today is also about spiritual development, but not as such, but about the meaning, the essence of spiritual development, as I understand it.
Let's consider these points: what is physical development? Everyone understands, right? To be physically developed, you need to go in for sports, physical education, or at least do exercises in the morning. In any case, something needs to be done, it is clear to everyone, otherwise your muscles will be flabby, your body will be lethargic, you feel so-so …
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And what is SPIRITUAL development? Following the previous logic, this is the development of the SPIRIT. Those. whatever one may say, having embarked on the path of spiritual development, you need to develop your spirit ?! How can we develop it? What simulators to use and what exercises to perform?
Let's be frank, for sure many will agree that, inspired by the works of N. Pravdina and other authors on positive psychology, many perceived work on themselves as a kind of very pleasant process: reading affirmations ("I am always lucky"), doing breathing exercises, meditations and etc. All this, of course, is very wonderful, but … this is NOT Spiritual development, although it adds a certain amount of positiveness to our life.
Only by starting such activities, you often experience a feeling of inspiration, boundless joy, bliss. There are thoughts that now, finally, my life will improve and will certainly change for the better. I agree? At the beginning of the practice, everything goes well: health improves, problems disappear, passers-by smile and everything comes together, a kind of idyll in life. But what happens next?
And then sharply negative moments of life suddenly begin to appear in the form of some unpleasant events, conflicts, strife, loss of material things, etc. And they are accompanied, respectively, by anger, irritation, fatigue, etc. It can be assumed that they are caused by a restructuring of the psyche of consciousness, transformation internal convictions, but this does not make it easier for you personally. Is that so?
According to research by psychologists, 70% of the negative and only 30% of the positive are in our subconscious, can you imagine? And it's hard to disagree with this, just look at your own reactions and thoughts …
This is actually the answer why this is happening?
By adding positive energy to yourself, enriching your life with positive emotions and feelings, you certainly bring positive changes into it, but what about negative? At the same time, he has not gone anywhere, and under the influence of new positive energies, he begins to squeeze outward, from here begins the reversal of negative scenarios (from the inside out, but not the other way around, the flow of life happens!).
An example from the beginning of my spiritual development: being a peaceful, non-conflicting person, I usually have people with me. But then one day I go to a small grocery store in my area, no one is there, I ask the seller about the product, she answers me rudely, I have another question for her, she is even rougher, the conversation ended with the fact that she accused me of being obscene insulted (like "she looks decent, but …"), I, in turn, calling her insane, promising to write a complaint to Rospotrebnadzor, etc. I just jumped out of this store, intending to really do it. Then, sitting on a bench, I began to think and remembered that just a few days ago a similar case had already happened to me, but in a milder version: intending to buy myself a new dress, I went into the store and began to consider the options I liked,at this time the seller came up to me, slightly taking me by the elbow, took me a little to the side to another showcase and with the words "for you, here is the clothes …", walked away. Such indignation came to my throat, because it was clothes 2 sizes larger than mine, at the age of "70+" and at the sale price (discounted price), speechless, I jumped out of there, muttering something on the go that I was their shop will never come again … do I look like a beggar? And here is the second case. What is it? I sat and realized for a very long time, probably: why do people perceive me so negatively, even "hear obscenities" from my lips, when I don't even know such words? Yes, I realized, it suddenly dawned on me … I returned to that store with a smile on my lips, just as the same seller met me, and exchanging pleasantries, I bought what I wanted, and she wished me all the best. Later, I visited a clothing store, where I immediately found 2 wonderful dresses in my size, color and style.
Watch What Happens: We get used to comfort easily. The more we strive for a calm and measured life, safety, lack of experience, the more difficult it is for us to take a step forward into the unknown. This comfort zone envelops us with coziness and deprives us of will. Why is that bad? It limits us, preventing us from growing and developing.
Imagine a doctor who every day develops his knowledge by reading literature, studying human physiology from drawings, BUT … here the Man was twisted in front of him from pain, he fell, and our cleverest doctor was confused and did not know what to do and how to be? Can he be considered a doctor at all?
Likewise, a Person who has taken the path of SPIRITUAL development, performing meditations, reading affirmations, BUT … succumbing to any difficulty in life, blaming everyone around him, except for himself "bright", offended by any word, looking for reasons outside, and not inside himself, remains most likely in captivity of their own deception, but not on the path of SPIRITUAL development.
EXAMPLE: My friend Marina told me her story. She and her husband knew each other from school, she was expecting him from the Army, although his parents were against it, because Marina is from a relatively poor family, while Oleg is from a family with a high social status, nevertheless they got married, two children, then they engaged in spiritual practices together, then … something began to happen … Oleg stopped in his development, even more, he began to drink, Marina did everything possible to help, but could not, Oleg began to raise a hand against her, she endured, or rather, she knew that she would not leave Oleg for anything, she would endure anything, although he began to expel frankly. Then he went to another woman and began to live with her, and Marina left. That woman turned out to be a narcologist, so only Marina decided that it would be better for Oleg. Then everything went very, very well for her (their children at that time were already adults). Then Oleg passed away and left Marina a letter in which he wrote that he loved her alone and never betrayed her, he passed her to a higher energy level, because with him, she could not advance …
And so it always happens, when a person wants to be raised to a higher level, he loses something … Through pain, through suffering, a new facet of being opens up. Agree, in order to expand your home, you have to break the wall and rebuild. Or even simpler: to fry an omelet you need to break eggs, whatever one may say, but you won't be able to save it and get it ?!
Sooner or later adversity finds us in the comfort zone of any strength. This is life … Sometimes we hear hurtful words, lose friends, connections, money or lose our job. It makes no sense to hold on to it with a stranglehold, but it is better to be ready to give up attachments at any time. It is from this point that the SPIRITUAL WAY OF DEVELOPMENT begins, when our SPIRIT develops, hardens and affirms.
Many very often and for a long time hang in some situation, image, and only through pain and suffering can their focus of attention be shifted to a wider range of life reality.
Unfortunately, our upbringing, society erase our individuality and level the personality as such, so we ourselves impoverish our life with a one-sided look at it or from the angle of "bad", "good", and life is very, very multifaceted, and not always it can be classified like that. For one, betrayal is a betrayal, when you need to pass a lesson in Loyalty, and for another, it is a TRANSITION to a higher level of development.
Why do people so often try to make excuses? Well, did something wrong or so, why look for excuses and convince others of them?
If you are a WOMAN (MAN), you do not need to justify yourself in this, right, stupidity? Those. and so it is clear WHO ARE YOU? And the rest? Maybe we are not good enough in fact, that is why we are trying to create at least the VISIBILITY of our goodness, i.e. LIKE better than it really is? Simply put, from self-doubt and seek support from others.
The main reason for the disagreement between people is that everyone considers their view of what is happening to be the only correct one according to the principle: there is my opinion and someone else's: wrong. Observing the reality, one can easily understand that these are just different views on the same thing, and the criterion of reliability is our own life experience. Having learned to analyze from different angles, you understand that any position is unreliable - just a point of view, opinion and nothing more.
What does the need to prove something say?
Rejection of the positions of other people causes negative emotions in us, but if you look from the other side, an attempt to prove something is a mirror of what we do not accept in ourselves;
- confidence that we know exactly how it should be;
- condemnation of the actions of others as a reflection of self-rejection;
- beliefs that are already hopelessly outdated;
- subconscious unwillingness to change.
Every person already from birth has the ability to think and learn, everyone is born in order to get their own life experience: learn to love, think independently, create their own world, not prove anything to anyone, not reject anything, but accept the point of view of others people (which does not necessarily mean agreeing with them).
The development of your own Spirit just replaces this "need" to constantly justify and prove to self-confidence, to a sense of your own responsibility for everything that happens in your life. Forms the skill in any situation to look inside yourself and look for the reason. It also flushes out the negative: it is very, very painful sometimes, but as a rule, the consequences are worth it, life begins to bloom with all the colors of the rainbow, ceases to be one-sided and gray. It is not for nothing that the most advanced minds of mankind strove for this and followed this thorny path and left us, walking behind, different signs.
I will cite another parable, which is very well-known, therefore, in short: In one village there was no rain for a long time, there was a real threat of destruction of the harvest, and then they decided to invite the Sage to help make it rain. The sage asked for a high fee, almost all had to be paid. For three days and three nights, the sage was in the hut assigned to him, and now the long-awaited rain began to fall. And when they began to ask him about how he managed to cause rain, the Sage replied that he did not do it, although he was glad that it started raining, and he only brought his inner world into HARMONY! And he succeeded.
Everything that you want is already inside you, so there is no need to be afraid because fear blocks our possibilities, you just need to learn how to LET yourself with people. Fear must give way to LOVE and ACCEPTANCE.
To accept is to acknowledge the right of another person to be as he is. Having recognized reality as existing, we get the opportunity to come into contact with it and influence it. Without accepting, we cannot use what is given to us for something important. By resisting certain people or circumstances, we waste a tremendous amount of energy that could dramatically improve our lives. The best way to prove anything is our own life in harmony of the inner and outer world, with a joyful and grateful acceptance of everything.
This is, in my opinion, the true let of the SPIRITUAL development, the path that bears fruit today, now, and not in a year or two or three readings of useless affirmations.
Use your powers for your own good! Fill your Heart with Love, Kindness and Trust in People, the World, God! Look into your inner world and make sure that it is not destroyed, and if so, it is in your power to restore it.
With love. KUPAVA